Florida's Famous Animals: True Stories Of Sunset Sam The Dolphin, Snooty The Manatee, Big Guy The Panther, And Others

by Jan Annino

Overview

Amazing, heartwarming and true animal stories – with photos!For animal lovers all over the planet, here is an easy-to-read collection of real-life rescues, rehabilitations, and adoptions from a state renowned for its wildlife. Read about the bottle-nosed dolphin who paints pictures on canvas, the 205-pound baby elephant who needed a name, and the hippopotamus who was adopted by an entire town. Fun for the whole family.Jan Annino Godown is the author of several books about Florida, and lives in Tallahassee.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762741366
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/12/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,036,124
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jan Annino Godown tutors college students, writes a column on children's literature, and is working towards an MFA degree in children's literature.

Read an Excerpt

Chessie Cold-water creature It was the summer of 1995. All along the coast of New England children raced into the water and splashed back out, yelling that it was just too cold. Then they plunged in again because it was summer.A native Florida swimmer, the size of a small rowboat, also tested the same shoreline waters that August. This amazing warm-water mammal, looking like a walrus without tusks or a giant swimming potato, was a West Indian manatee. It lived in Florida. But this manatee seemed to want to get as far away from home as it could. And it had swum steadily north all the way from Florida about 1,500 miles, to Rhode Island.Something in the Rhode Island waters must have finally given the manatee a shiver. At a coastal region called Point Judith, known for its lighthouse beacon, the manatee turned around to begin the long swim home. Some time between Sept. 23 when it was near Virginia, and Nov. 16 when it was seen near Jacksonville, it had arrived back in Florida. And so this manatee known as Chessie officially entered the history books as the longest-traveled manatee in the world—some 3,000 miles up and back.

Table of Contents

Take a Bow (Wow!)     vi
Introduction: Manatees, Panthers, and Bears, Oh My!     ix
Maya: Mystery Owl     1
Dave: Parade Cat     10
Boo Boo: Capital Bear     17
Electra: Manatee Aided by Manatees     26
Lu: Town Hippo     35
Sunset Sam: Dolphin Deeds     45
Tamani: 205-Pound Newborn     54
Brownie: Dog for All of Daytona     64
Chessie: Cold-water Visitor     73
Snooty: Manatee Mascot     85
Jet: Dog Near the Runway     93
Rosie: Big Beauty on Miami Beach     101
Big Guy: Panther Patient     111
More of Florida's Famous Animals     122
How to Assist Florida's Animals     126
Sources     131
Index     143
About the Author     147

Editorial Reviews

Darwin taught us about survival of the fittest; we only wish that he had illuminated our human love of other species with equal discernment. Florida's Famous Animals proves the point with its beguiling stories of adorable pachyderms, hippos, and dolphins. Oohs and aahs from the entire family.